1. Crazy Candidate

Georgia's 14th Congressional District, located in northwest Atlanta, has been represented by Republican Senator Tom Graves since 2013. As an area in the Deep South where whites make up nearly 85% of the population and is highly agricultural, it has been one of the most stable vote bases for Republicans and conservatives: in 2016, Trump won 75% of the vote here, Hillary Clinton has only 22%. In 2019, Graves announced that he would retire from the election. In the Republican primary, neuroscientist John Cowan and business operator Marjorie Taylor Greene entered the Aug. 11 runoff Green beat Cowen by 14.9 percent in the Republican runoff and received a congratulatory tweet from Trump the next day. This means that Green's entry into Congress and becoming a member of Congress is almost a certainty.

Green's victory and Trump's congratulatory letter did not make the Republicans in Congress feel the slightest joy; on the contrary, because of her rise, these old conservatives who are eager to take back the House of Representatives are anxious. They couldn't wait to condemn Greene and her series of remarks, expressing "zero tolerance" for the claims, "disgusting" and "denunciation in the strongest possible terms".

Why? On the surface, it all stemmed from a series of horrific videos Green posted on Facebook. In the video, Green believes that Muslims are not qualified to serve in the U.S. government; black people are "raised as slaves by the Democratic Party"; Jewish philanthropist George Soros is a "Nazi remnant", "enemy of the people", "funder of the Black Lives Matter movement" ; if she were black would be proud of a Confederate statue that "represents progress since the Civil War"; since the end of slavery, racial distinctions are completely non-existent.

Yet ignored or brushed off in every statement of condemnation, is what worries these congressional Republicans the most: Greene is a staunch advocate of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

These online conspiracy theorists have gradually found an opportunity to prove their ideas after Trump unwittingly said at a dinner party in 2017 that it was "the calm before the storm." In their perception, Trump is facing a lot of resistance in the confrontation with the government to prevent him from revealing this large-scale conspiracy, and all the negative news and criticisms against him are these "deep state" Dirty water poured on him.

On 4chan, an anonymous self-proclaimed "Q", claiming to be a senior in the Trump administration, began using "calm before the storm" to imply that Trump was about to announce the detention of a large number of senior dignitaries to uncover their Satan-worshiping, involvement in Hard evidence of human trafficking, child sexual abuse, and even the consumption of these children at banquets. Afterwards, this theory not only developed into 8chan, 8kun and other forums outside the dark web, but also formed various groups on mainstream social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, etc., trying to understand Q in their own form. Pushed again and again like a riddle.

A rally of Trump supporters in August 2018 was filled with QAnon symbols and a favorite slogan of their supporters: "When we go alone, all "Where we go 1 we go all, WWG1WGA". A photo of a reporter being constantly provoked and humiliated by supporters behind waving QAnon signs as he tried to cover the news was the beginning of the press's initial understanding of the "storm".

For Green, reaching out to QAnon appears to be just one thing a conservative Trump supporter has to do. Among the online records found by NBC News reporters, they found Green on her personal website as a very active online media writer. Her publications are all outside the mainstream, including Breitbart News, once run by Steve Bannon for a long time, and the publications "Sweden Bans Mandatory Vaccinations" and "Nixon Concealed Aliens" Evidence” and other conspiracy theories fake news site YourNewsWire.

As early as September 2017, Green firmly believed that he had found hard evidence on these sites that the Democratic Party was engaged in a series of terrorist acts. In an article for the right-wing forum "American Truth Seekers," she commented on the series of specious information she had collected: "We all like to call it conspiracy theories and choose to believe them and No. Those pure evil, things no one wants to believe is happening. We can't go back."

Soon, she found that Q seemed as eager as she was to seek out these disturbing messages about the Democratic Party. She quickly accepted the information in its entirety, including the so-called "Clinton Kill List", "Las Vegas shooting was self-directed and self-acted", and even "9/11 terrorist attack was an inside operation" and other very dangerous ideas. So far, every time she faces doubts, she will unswervingly accuse the other party, believing that the other party is either a supporter of the "deep state" or "has not seen the truth."

Two years later, when the entire United States realized that this woman who was an enemy of the truth was about to enter Washington, they realized that QAnon had already gone from a fringe crazy theory to an important part of mainstream thought and political ecology. Sadly and frighteningly, she is not alone in this wave. As of July 13, 11 Republican congressional nominees publicly supported or defended the QAnon conspiracy theory movement or some of its tenets, according to Axios. Lauren Boebert, who defeated incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, has publicly stated that she wants QAnon to be real because it only means America is getting richer and stronger, and people are returning to conservative values. In Minnesota's fifth congressional district of Somali-Muslim Democrat Ilhan Omar, her Republican rival Danielle Stella, in addition to retweeting QAnon's content, even A disgusting tweet was posted calling for Omar to be hanged. As a result, Twitter shut down her account.

2. What happened to the children?

Like the vaccine conspiracy theories, QAnon has a seemingly noble purpose: for children. This seemingly unchanging theme can be seen in "Pizzagate" before the concept was officially formed. A lyric, a photo, or even outright false information, anyone whom they see as an enemy is constantly revealing that these people are members of a "secret pedophile ring." As recently as August, a song by British goth rock band The Sisters Of Mercy, titled "Adrenochrome," became their latest focus. In the song's comments and related searches, many QAnon believers believe the name of the song and the substance it represents is the latest hard evidence that Hillary, Soros and Hollywood are involved in child abuse. On July 31, they even held a small protest in Hollywood under the name "Child Lives Matter."

Google searches for Adrenaline Red have grown like crazy since the U.S. went into a state of emergency. The product itself is an easy-to-find compound, usually in the form of a pale pink solution, formed by the oxidation of the stress hormone adrenaline. It's not FDA-approved for medical use, but researchers can buy the compound cheaply. In some 20th century studies, there has been a search for whether this substance can trigger psychosis, but all have been unsuccessful. Long before the formation of QAnon, there was already in many corners the claim that adrenaline could only form by torturing children to get their oxidative hormone fears. Huxley and Hunter S. Thompson, well-known writers and dystopians, were both believers in this theory. After writing about them discussing Adrenaline Red was posted on 4chan, the substance quickly became associated with conspiracy theories of the Illuminati, the Jewish Elders, the Secret Society, the Lizardmen, and more. They believed that by robbing children and taking adrenaline, these elders could gain immortality. In fact, the original lyrics of The Sisters of Mercy's song were based largely on Thompson's speculation that the substance was used by nuns to control students in Catholic schools.

Around 2018, after these communities had almost completely transformed into full-time QAnon evangelists, there was a flood of bizarre speculation about the substance online. A self-directed and self-acted "documentary" believes that social elites are using adrenaline to hype the price of digital currency; New York politician Anthony Weiner, who was investigated by the FBI for a sex scandal, is speculated to be hidden on the computer. A video of an epinephrine extraction ceremony; on Reddit, the outrageous theory was swept up in the forums of r/adrenochrome until it was shut down in July; on Facebook, the homepage of a group about epinephrine Pushed a sprawling introduction that included many familiar conspiracy theories, including Justin Bieber's Yummy video and JonBenet Ramsey, a child model kidnapped and killed by an unknown killer.

The group, which is open today and has more than 22,000 members, said in its introduction: "The use of adrenaline is widespread in our society, and it's time for us to have a mass awakening to these facts and begin to The reasons are educated. WHY, HOW, WHEN, WHO, WHERE and WHY, we should be more 'open eyes' to our society from top to bottom..."

Journalist Tarpley Hitt argues that QAnon's obsession has an aspect similar to that of Thompson and Huxley's literary criticism: every current event has a hidden meaning, and criminals around the world rush to symbolize their crimes, as if there were millions of them. Information eagerly awaits careful readers to interpret them accurately. QAnon supporters can't wait to embrace and support almost all existing conspiracy theories, and firmly believe that it's all a conspiracy that President Trump and a handful of "patriots" are under endless pressure. The forces of evil that need to be confronted. The ghost of Q has existed in previous Bleach and Plantemic events.

Communication researchers Britt Paris and Joan Donovan believe that conspiracy messages like this, which are widely ignored because they are too outrageous, have a terrible "hidden virality". In a research report on disinformation, they argue that the content categorization customary in online communities concentrates these dangerous ideas and prevents journalists and social organizations from being able to detect and report such information in a more timely manner. This phenomenon can exist freely in code words, emojis, and words, so often that the strictest user agreement is beyond its ability to control and prohibit. Even after Twitter, Facebook and TikTok shut down some groups and deleted thousands of videos and discussions, collecting adrenaline remains a staple of some online communities.

Because adrenaline is relatively unimportant, it is not much covered by scientists, journalists or academics. This creates a data gap, a vacuum of reliable information without authoritative sources. In a data hole, search algorithms show what’s available instead of curated local, timely, and relevant content; it’s all perfect conditions to be tainted with misinformation and conspiracy theories. When toxic social attitudes and disinformation go viral, Adrenaline, like other conspiracy theories, is blamed on "Satan" and "globalists" by the far right. The modern obsession with adrenaline is an era of blood slurs.

A Google search for "adrenochrome" brings up a knowledge panel, an auto-generated infobox from Wikipedia with descriptions of compounds and some academic research. However, the editorial history of that Wikipedia article shows that over the past few months, editors have been removing attempts to add false information. On Google Images, viewers will be confronted with a wealth of infographics about missing children, doctored images of celebrities and politicians, and guidance on how to further search for "evidence." DuckDuckGo and other search engines return more outrageous results in the initial search results. Real scientific elements are merged into de facto incoherent frameworks, resulting in a treasure trove of documentation that is hard to find in mainstream search engines. These are the underlying viral underpinnings of unfounded ideas. These new conspiracies spread effortlessly across platforms through hashtags and comments.

Contrary to protecting children, QAnon believers have been brainwashed to harm children countless times. In Massachusetts, a 29-year-old father, Alpalus Slyman, believed that members of the Deep State would send the police to kidnap his five children, so he forcibly put them in a car and sped at nearly 180 kilometers per hour. , and live-streamed his drag racing with the police on social media.

In the process, Slyman and his wife are asking whether there is a secret syndicate of kidnapping, abusing and devouring children involving Hollywood, Democratic politicians, Soros and Hillary Clinton, and whether the syndicate is about to use the police to take theirs now. There was a heated quarrel with the child. Seeing that she couldn't convince her husband, Slyman's wife jumped out of the car and quickly called the police. In the car, Slyman kept teaching himself the meaning of QAnon to his children ranging from 8 months to 13 years old, and pleaded with Trump and Q to protect him time and time again. Slyman's daughter told her father that she was working for these mysterious conspirators in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to stop. Ultimately, Slyman's car drove all the way from Boston to New Hampshire until it collided with a police patrol car.

Prior to this, some active members of QAnon had repeatedly called on their supporters to give children bleach or a "miracle mineral solution" to treat autism and COVID-19. And there is a similar force behind Slyman's madness: The group's leader is Timothy Holmseth, a middle-aged man who calls himself the voice of the "Pentagon's Paedophile Task Force." In fact, he is now a fugitive from the Department of Justice for violating a restraining order. In order to avoid being discovered, Holmseth would go live in fast-food restaurants that provide free WiFi every time, calling on the public to support the task force.

The Pentagon certainly doesn't have a "pedophile task force." That didn't stop him, however: Using a "child transport tunnel" so common in anti-government conspiracy ideas, he claimed that a "task force" had rescued tens of thousands of abused "moles" in New York City's underground prison child". While the claim was widely circulated on social media, neither the so-called "mole children" nor their parents ever appeared or testified.

Going back from a historical point of view, the emerging QAnon's continuous use of children as the subject of propaganda is inheriting and carrying forward some reactionary cores.

Many rumors about child abuse have a strong quirky perspective and satisfy an instinctive fear of the unknown, so it is not difficult to be widely used in rumors. But in addition, another reason for the popularity of this conspiracy theory is the active confrontation of gender equality in the process of social development. With the rise of feminist ideas in the 1960s and 1970s, many women stopped being housewives and entered full-time jobs in different industries. After Ronald Reagan became president, who vigorously promoted family and conservative values, there was a resurgence of conservatism with strong hesitations about women's new identities.

Women occupied the absolutely mainstream day care service at the time and became the primary target of this ideological attack. Back in 1971, President Nixon vetoed the Comprehensive Child Development Act, which created a nationwide daycare system. In his veto message, Nixon used the "red bait" language his special assistant Pat Buchanan urged him, saying the project would put the nation's moral rights over individual families. The unconditional belief in accusers and "victims" popular in a range of campaigns against rape and cults also had this nasty effect: the notorious McMartin Preschool incident in California (note: two operating preschools After members of the McMartin family were accused of child sexual abuse, the case was eventually dismissed by a judge for lack of evidence), media outlets across the United States appeared to be reporting sexual abuse at daycares, but those rumors never materialized.

At a time when the gender identity movement has become an important topic of social struggle, online conspiracy theories naturally don’t mind including their own stubborn sexual minorities as part of the conspiracy. That's why, even though Q himself doesn't specifically mention the LGBTQ community, their supporters have shown endless anxiety about these issues. For this reason, QAnon's community once spread something similar to "LGBTP (Note: P refers to Pedofile, that is, pedophile)", "Adults who think they are children do not realize that they are pedophiles' Yotsuba. "Grass sex'", "Pedophile self-definition as 'age mobile'" and other sinister rumors that stigmatize sexual minorities.

The moment these stigmas began to spread on a large scale, QAnon's ambitions and politics took on a new definition. Any news and information about children can be used to create panic, and this moral panic can be used by those in power to prevent valuable change from happening. The voice of a toy, the price of a furniture store, can be spread like wild grass seeds by people with no relevant background, and at this time, the participants don't even need to become QAnon believers themselves, they have already done it for Q. I'm afraid Unexpected things.

3. Mainstreaming of conspiracy

To prove its energy, QAnon pushed to the brink the power of real efforts to break pedophilia and stop human trafficking while promoting a series of rumours about children.

At the insistence of its CEO Zuckerberg, Facebook, which is determined not to be a "truth arbiter", has become a paradise for them to lure a large number of new people. There, QAnon supporters can join various parenting groups to attract the attention of novice readers by spreading a series of horrific but questionable child abductions and the hashtag #Savethechildren. The English name of this label happens to be the same as the English name of the International Children's Organization "Save the Children". This also means that when people search for this hashtag on social media, they will inevitably read a large number of false information such as "pedophile cult" and "adrenaline red".

Part of the perversity of this strategy is that child sex trafficking is a real and horrific thing, and some people with political connections, including financier Jeffrey Epstein, have been credibly accused of exploitation underage girls. Whatever your political stance, speaking out against child exploitation is not an objectionable position. At other times, they paint factual information as they fit their presuppositions: When an Associated Press article about the Trump administration's $35 million grant to groups holding human-trafficking survivors appeared, it One of the most shared stories on Facebook. Previously, the QAnon group frequently used the article as evidence that President Trump was secretly cracking down on elite pedophiles.

Any information that is far from the truth can be mainstreamed by people's moral panic. In June and July, the online furniture site Wayfair was accused of engaging in an underground child trade because cabinets were several times more expensive than is commonly believed. QAnon falsely claimed that a Wayfair employee had been photographed with Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite who provided Epstein with underage girls. Members of other social media groups outside the QAnon group who infiltrated other social media groups hyped up the rumors, leading to wider attention. Instagram is full of concerns from lifestyle bloggers who don't know QAnon about Wayfair's child trafficking. By the end, even Trump’s campaign had begun to tweet heavily about anti-trafficking. The data shows that interactions about #Savethechildren have grown by 500% in the process.

It happened again and again: On the petition site Change.org, a request for an investigation into the toy company Hasbro's Trolls popped up. The 12-inch-tall doll, aimed at children ages 4 and older, "giggles in three different ways when she's being tickled," according to Hasbro's product description. It sings the song "Trolls Just Want to Have Fun" from the DreamWorks animated film "The Wizard of Oz 2." A Utah mother found that when pressed near the privacy part of a toy, it also giggled. The mother expressed her concerns in a short video: "As you all know, there is something going on in the world about child sex trafficking and something being thrown in our children's faces to groom them and make them feel good about it. It's kind of blind to what's going on."

In a statement, Hasbro argued that the feature was designed to respond when the doll was seated, but that the placement of the sensors may not have been appropriate. On QAnon's forum, however, the treasured conspiracy theorists firmly believe that the doll is yet another proof that the elites normalize child abuse.

Content about human trafficking and underage sexual exploitation is unremarkable in and of itself. However, organizations concerned with human trafficking also expressed their strong dissatisfaction with The New York Times. They believe that because of the news that QAnon has spread, they have received numerous false complaints on the hotline and in the mail, asking these organizations to investigate Hasbro, Hollywood, Hillary and Wayfair as soon as possible.

For Democrats and the mainstream media, it seems like a peculiar convention not to stop a well-established set of extreme theories in time. In 2009, a year after Obama became president, Democrats gradually found that some of the new Republican candidates had a soft spot for economic issues, especially taxes and the national debt. Soon, these people formed a massive protest, using all political means to stop the increase in tax rates, and called for a reduction in IRS funding. In the 2010 and 2014 elections, these self-proclaimed "Tea Party" conservatives stepped onto the political stage one after another, paving the way for Trump's appearance in the future. Today, a number of senior Republican politicians, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, Utah Senator Mike Lee, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been an important member of the movement's rise.

Today, QAnon's momentum is only more dire than the Tea Party movement: Facebook's documents provided to NBC News show that the top 10 QAnon groups have more than 1 million members in total, with members from more popular groups and pages combined and The number of followers exceeded 3 million. Taken together, Facebook now has a total of 1,000 active QAnon groups.

4. Who should pay for this?

In addition to the very nature of social media and Trump's indulgence, the COVID-19 pandemic has made information increasingly opaque in this war of truth and rumor.

Since the US went into a state of emergency, extremists who refuse to accept government domination have started a massive protest over the continued lockdown. Many men, women and children dressed in militia costumes marched to the gates of governments and hospitals to protest the mandatory wearing of masks and the inability of businesses to open, believing that it was all just a conspiracy to try to thwart Trump. In Ohio, protesters proudly carried QAnon signs, calling for the immediate resignation of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who has continued the state's lockdown policy.

Where did these sudden protesters come from? Many of them are social media influencers who started reaching out and engaging with health communities, religious groups, and new age groups on social media during the pandemic, and then being step-by-step by algorithms to exchange energies, religious or therapeutic Introduce extremist groups like QAnon in name. When a person’s normal time to go out and socialize with others is blocked by the restriction order, and it is very likely that he has lost his original job due to the epidemic, the bottomless pit on social media can meet the absolute need to spend time, gradually eroding a person’s normalcy thinking. Thus, a new QAnon believer was born.

The prevalence of this phenomenon can be seen from a Google search: there are records of QAnon that have surged several times after the outbreak of the epidemic.

Aside from supporting Trump and calling for an investigation into the relatively politicized topics of paedophilia, the QAnon conspiracy theory is most interesting to these people because they are a major force in pushing to end the lockdown and get life "back on track." In their view, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a doctor who has devoted nearly 50 years of his life to public health security, is the culprit of this crisis. On social media, a large number of people began calling for Fauci's firing in March, and they were not all right-wing Trump supporters. The direct reason Fauci has become the focus of the attack is that, compared with Trump, he has professional training in public health issues and is not optimistic about the epidemic, nor will he use "Kung Fu virus", "Chinese virus", etc. Racially colored words to describe the disaster.

QAnon group leaders and influential vloggers tend to call on their supporters to prove the falsehood of the virus in the most extreme ways. In California, a woman who refused to wear a mask called other customers who were complying with epidemic prevention regulations "Democratic pigs"; in Montana, a woman deliberately coughed without a mask on a live broadcast to passersby; however, more common , or the ridiculous rumors that they continue to spread and spread online about denying the existence of the virus. The most sinister of these is the claim that Fauci once visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology with Hillary and Obama, where the pandemic was planned.

Aside from banning a few groups, Facebook has done nothing more plausible about this dangerous theory that its platform has flourished. Back in June, Zuckerberg faced mass protests from his employees, hoping he could become the de facto arbiter of truth. In the absence of reasonable external correction, inaction also becomes an action. In a bid to maintain its "neutrality," the BuzzFeed News report stated that Facebook has reportedly removed misinformation warnings aimed at well-read right-wing accounts and fired an employee who gathered evidence of Facebook's preferential treatment of such pages.

At a time when crazy conspiracy theories are spreading to everyone's social media faster than the virus, Trump has chosen time and time again to give a no-nonsense boost to the cult that supports him. A tweet is a solid proof. When he answered questions about Greene and her staunch supporter of QAnon at a news conference on Aug. 14, he ducked, claiming that he was simply backing a political candidate who had achieved great success.

When Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger chose to keep his conscience and went out of his way to condemn the QAnon movement, he was questioned on Twitter by Matt Wolking, deputy director of communications for Trump's election team: "When are you going to condemn the Democrats? The fabricated Steele dossier and conspiracy theories? This is actual Russian propaganda.”

Travis View, one of QAnon's earliest observers, author and podcaster, suggested that Trump's stubborn belief from the beginning of his presidency that he could not succeed is precisely because he is constantly being dogmatically stereotyped. The deep state's constant blocking. When the domestic situation is gradually simmering due to the new crown epidemic and anti-racism protests, there is nothing like a conspiracy theory that believes that you will never be wrong.

The term "storm", which Trump cited in 2017, has become a constant creed for these men. But what exactly is a storm? View believes that this is nothing more than a variant of eschatology in religion. In this eschatology, the old judgments of liberalism and socialism are finally overturned, and the nuclear family is restored to its rightful place. He said: "One of the things they often talk about after the 'storm' is that they imagine the economy will recover so that one's income can support a family again. They imagine that traditional gender roles and norms will be Maintenance, the way children grow up will return to the way they used to be.”

References:

1. Breland, Ali. “Epstein Is a Real Pedophile. Why Are QAnon and Pizzagate so Focused on Fake Ones?” Mother Jones , 18 July 2019, www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/why-are-right-wing- conspiracies-so-obsessed-with-pedophilia/.
2. Breland, Ali, and Sinduja Rangarajan. “How the Coronavirus Spread QAnon.” Mother Jones , 23 June 2020, www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/06/qanon-coronavirus/.
3. Brown, Michael F. “Marjorie Greene, the QAnon Anti-Semite Gun Fanatic Who Loves Israel.” The Electronic Intifada , 8 Aug. 2020, electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/marjorie-greene-qanon-anti- semite-gun-fanatic-who-loves-israel.
4. Bump, Philip. “Analysis | Trump's Quiet Acceptance of QAnon Has Become Something Bigger.” The Washington Post , WP Company, 12 Aug. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/12/trumps-quiet-acceptance- qanon-has-become-something-bigger/.
5. Collins, Ben. “How QAnon Rode the Pandemic to New Heights - and Fueled the Viral Anti-Mask Phenomenon.” NBCNews.com , NBCUniversal News Group, 16 Aug. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how -qanon-rode-pandemic-new-heights-fueled-viral-anti-mask-n1236695.
6. Collins, Ben, and Brandy Zadrozny. “Twitter Bans 7,000 QAnon Accounts, Limits 150,000 Others as Part of Broad Crackdown.” NBCNews.com , NBCUniversal News Group, 23 July 2020, www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/twitter -bans-7-000-qanon-accounts-limits-150-000-others-n1234541.
7. Crawford, Blyth. “Chan Culture and Violent Extremism.” GNET , 31 Dec. 2019, gnet-research.org/2019/12/31/chan-culture-and-violent-extremism-past-present-and-future/.
8. Friedberg, Brian. “The Dark Virality of a Hollywood Blood-Harvesting Conspiracy.” Wired , Conde Nast, www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-dark-virality-of-a-hollywood-blood-harvesting-conspiracy/ .
9. Hananoki, Eric. “QAnon Candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene Is a 9/11 Conspiracy Theorist Who Claimed That There's No Evidence a Plane Crashed into the Pentagon.” Media Matters for America , 13 Aug. 2020, www.mediamatters.org/congress/qanon -candidate-marjorie-taylor-greene-911-conspiracy-theorist-who-claimed-theres-no.
10. Hitt, Tarpley. “'Adrenochrome': QAnon's Imaginary Drug Hollywood Is 'Harvesting' From Kids.” The Daily Beast , The Daily Beast Company, 14 Aug. 2020, www.thedailybeast.com/how-qanon-became-obsessed-with -adrenochrome-an-imaginary-drug-hollywood-is-harvesting-from-kids?via=twitter_page.
11. Knutson, Jacob. “11 Republican Congressional Nominees Support the QAnon Conspiracy Theory.” Axios , 12 July 2020, www.axios.com/qanon-nominees-congress-gop-8086ed21-b7d3-46af-9016-d132e65ba801.html.
12. LaFrance, Adrienne. “The Prophecies of Q.” The Atlantic , Atlantic Media Company, 22 June 2020, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/ 610567/.
13. Link, Devon. “Fact Check: 'Clovergender' Isn't Part of the LGBTQ Community.” USA Today , Gannett Satellite Information Network, 30 July 2020, www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/30 /fact-check-clovergender-not-lgbtq-gender-sexual-identity/5504085002/.
14. Mogensen, Jackie Flynn. “To Celebrate the Fourth, Michael Flynn Posts a Pledge to Conspiracy Group QAnon.” Mother Jones , 5 July 2020, www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/07/to-celebrate-the-fourth-michael -flynn-posts-a-pledge-to-conspiracy-group-qanon/.
15. Mutnick, Ally, and Melanie Zanona. “House Republican Leaders Condemn GOP Candidate Who Made Racist Videos.” POLITICO , POLITICO, 9 Aug. 2020, www.politico.com/news/2020/06/17/house-republicans-condemn- gop-candidate-racist-videos-325579.
16. Paris, Britt, and Joan Donovan. “Deepfakes and Cheap Fakes.” Data & Society , Data & Society Research Institute, 18 Sept. 2019, datasociety.net/library/deepfakes-and-cheap-fakes/.
17. Parker, Paul Edward. “Hasbro Removes Doll after Complaints It Grooms Children for Abuse.” Providencejournal.com , Providencejournal.com, 5 Aug. 2020, www.providencejournal.com/news/20200805/hasbro-removes-doll-after-complaints -it-grooms-children-for-abuse?utm_source=web_push&utm_medium=referral.
18. Roose, Kevin. “Think QAnon Is on the Fringe? So Was the Tea Party.” The New York Times , The New York Times, 13 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/technology/qanon- tea-party.html.
19. Roose, Kevin. “QAnon Followers Are Hijacking the #SaveTheChildren Movement.” The New York Times , The New York Times, 12 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/technology/qanon-save-the- children-trafficking.html.
20. Rosenberg, Matthew, and Jennifer Steinhauer. “The QAnon Candidates Are Here. Trump Has Paved Their Way.” The New York Times , The New York Times, 14 July 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/ politics/qanon-politicians-candidates.html.
21. Rosenberg, Matthew, et al. “Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon Supporter, Wins House Primary in Georgia.” The New York Times , The New York Times, 12 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/ us/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-qanon-georgia-primary.html.
22. Sen, Ari, and Brandy Zadrozny. “QAnon Groups Have Millions of Members on Facebook, Documents Show.” NBCNews.com , NBCUniversal News Group, 11 Aug. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/qanon-groups -have-millions-members-facebook-documents-show-n1236317.
23. Silverman, Craig, and Ryan Mac. “Mark Zuckerberg Says Facebook Doesn't Want To Be The 'Arbiter Of Truth." Its Fact-Checkers And Employees Say It Already Is." BuzzFeed News , BuzzFeed News, 13 Aug. 2020, www .buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-arbiter-truth-fact-check-mark-zuckerberg.
24. Silverman, Craig. “Facebook Fired An Employee Who Collected Evidence Of Right-Wing Pages Getting Preferential Treatment.” BuzzFeed News , BuzzFeed News, 6 Aug. 2020, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-zuckerberg-what-if -trump-disputes-election-results.
25. Solender, Andrew. “Trump-Backed Candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene Promotes 9/11 Conspiracy Theory.” Forbes , Forbes Magazine, 13 Aug. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/08/13/trump-backed- candidate-marjorie-taylor-greene-promotes-911-conspiracy-theory/#4eebc7d4f0c3.
26. Sommer, Will. “QAnon Promotes Pedo-Ring Conspiracy Theories. Now They're Stealing Kids. .” The Daily Beast , The Daily Beast Company, 15 Aug. 2020, www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-promotes-pedo-ring- conspiracy-theories-now-theyre-stealing-kids.
27. Sommer, Will. “QAnon Incited Her to Kidnap Her Son and Then Hid Her From the Law.” The Daily Beast , The Daily Beast Company, 16 Aug. 2020, www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-incited-her-to-kidnap -her-son-and-then-hid-her-from-the-law.
28. Stanglin, Doug. “Fact Check: Troll Doll Button in 'Private' Area Not Intentional or Part of Kids 'Grooming'.” USA Today , Gannett Satellite Information Network, 7 Aug. 2020, www.usatoday.com/story/news/ factcheck/2020/08/07/fact-check-troll-doll-draws-fire-giggle-button-private-parts/3307417001/.
29. Stanley-Becker, Isaac. “How the Trump Campaign Came to Court QAnon, the Online Conspiracy Movement Identified by the FBI as a Violent Threat.” The Washington Post , WP Company, 2 Aug. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ how-the-trump-campaign-came-to-court-qanon-the-online-conspiracy-movement-identified-by-the-fbi-as-a-violent-threat/2020/08/01/dd0ea9b4-d1d4- 11ea-9038-af089b63ac21_story.html.
30. Stanley-Becker, Issac, and Rachel Bade. “QAnon Supporter, with Georgia Primary Victory, Is Poised to Bring Far-Right Conspiracy Theory to Congress.” The Washington Post , WP Company, 12 Aug. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/ politics/2020/08/11/marjorie-taylor-greene-georgia-qanon/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most.
31. Thomas, Phil. “Republican Running against Ilhan Omar Banned from Twitter after Calling for Her to Be Hanged.” The Independent , Independent Digital News and Media, 28 Nov. 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ us-politics/ilhan-omar-danielle-stella-twitter-ban-hanged-treason-squad-congress-a9224016.html.
32. View, Travis. “Perspective | How Conspiracy Theorists Taint the Justice They Seek.” The Washington Post , WP Company, 10 July 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/07/10/how-conspiracy-theorists-taint- justice-they-seek/.
33. View, Travis. “Perspective | For Trump, Every Enemy Is Simultaneously Terrifying and Incompetent.” The Washington Post , WP Company, 22 June 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/22/antifa-conspiracy-theory- trump/.
34. Warzel, Charlie. “The Week QAnon Went Mainstream.” The New York Times , The New York Times, 15 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/opinion/qanon-marjorie-greene-congress.html .
35. Wong, Julia Carrie. “Down the Rabbit Hole: How QAnon Conspiracies Thrive on Facebook.” The Guardian , Guardian News and Media, 25 June 2020, www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jun/25/qanon-facebook-conspiracy -theories-algorithm.
36. Zadrozny, Brandy. “House GOP Candidate Known for QAnon Support Was 'Correspondent' for Conspiracy Website.” NBCNews.com , NBCUniversal News Group, 15 Aug. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/georgia-congressional- candidate-s-writings-highlight-qanon-support-n1236724